The Nets needed to beat their crosstown rivals, the New York Knicks, really badly tonight. And for the rare time this season in which they really needed a win, the Nets won.
Outside of the 2-0 lead the Knicks had at the start of the game on an Iman Shumpert floater, Brooklyn led this game the entire way. The score was tied at 2-2 and at 39 apiece in the second quarter, but other that, this night belonged to the Nets.
After that Shumpert bucket, Brooklyn rolled off 10 straight points, the first six of which were scored by Brook Lopez, who had a big game against the weak New York frontcourt (23 points, eight rebounds and three blocks). The Nets rolled this solid start into a nine-point first quarter lead, a lead that was quickly negated in the second quarter.
Jose Calderon, acquired this summer by the Knicks from the Mavericks along with Shane Larkin and Samuel Dalembert, was one of the only reasons his team was even close in this game. He hit a pair of threes in the second (and five on the game, scoring 19 points overall) to cut the New York deficit and eventually tie the score.
Give the Nets credit, though, as they were able to respond and score eight of the next 10 points en route to taking a four-point halftime lead. It was a disappointing finish to a first half in which the Nets mostly dominated. However, the third quarter would make them forget about that.
Brooklyn again went on a 8-2 to start the third quarter and took a 58-48 lead and almost all of the momentum. The so-so MSG crowd was silenced for awhile–until the Knicks fought back unsuccessfully late in the fourth quarter–as the Nets offense finally opened up, with ball movement abound and actual possessions taking place. Oh what a sight!
The Nets won the quarter by a 28-19 margin but reverted to their old, lifeless play in the last eight minutes final frame as the awful Knicks were able to cut the Brooklyn advantage to 83-79 on another Calderon triple. Brooklyn’s season-long issue of closing out games reared its ugly head as the home crowd fed on the energy of its team to make the game way, way too close for how most of it proceeded.
A Brooklyn 10-point lead suddenly was just three and after a Joe Johnson pass to Calderon, the Knicks had a chance to tie. However, Carmelo Anthony missed an open three and Johnson got the rebound, was fouled and hit a pair of free throws. New York answered right back with a Calderon jumper and had another chance to tie the game after Kevin Garnett missed a layup.
Here’s where it got interesting.
With 17 seconds left, Carmelo rushed the ball up the court and took a wild, but relatively open, three that clanged off the back rim. The problem is it as if Knicks coach Derek Fisher was trying to call timeout to set up a last-second play. He wasn’t granted one by the official and Johnson grabbed the rebound again and hit the game-sealing free throws. A very Knicks loss indeed.
Some other observations I had from the game: The Nets couldn’t have lost this game. A defeat would have set them back to 6-10 with a game against the Spurs, a team the Nets have never been able to beat, in Brooklyn on Wednesday night. Now, they’re a less-worse 7-9 and finally got a great performance from their best players…Brook, Johnson and Deron Williams scored 64 of Brooklyn’s 98 points and each of them made exactly half their shots, which is coincidental and pretty efficient. Deron drilled five threes to boot while Joe and Brook each grabbed eight rebounds. Nice balance from Lionel Hollins’ most talented players. Also, one of Brook’s three blocks came on a Cole Aldrich layup with less than a minute in regulation that ended up being very important…Bojan Bogdanovic, who has struggled mightily on the road this season, went 5-for-11 and scored 10 points. He missed too many open jumpers, as did Mirza, but he was able to run the floor well and hit some shots in the paint…The Nets only got 18 points from their bench and 10 of those were courtesy of Mason Plumlee. Mason hasn’t been very effective this season but attacked the rim well and also contributed to Brooklyn’s 49-40 rebounding advantage (and stunning 21 offensive boards) with eight rebounds. Maybe this game will help him get back on track?
Looking Ahead
The Nets are right back at it tomorrow night as they welcome the San Antonio Spurs, who crushed the Nets on November 22nd, to Barclays to finish off the season series.
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